Episode 13: Mercy!

In a matter of moments, Harry is surrounded by men in red, all with bulldog caps and beers, all settled in for the duration. By the time the large one, Bud, he says his name is, has worked his way around to possible Heisman trophy contenders in the upcoming freshman double-A recruiting class, Harry is beginning to loathe the sound of the ball on the bat.

Even the sight of Sam in a tank top has lost its allure, not to mention the food. What at first seemed quite appealing in a blowzy sort of way—bread-and-butter pickles, corn muffins, pulled pork barbecue, navy beans streaked with garlic and bacon, tangy sauerkraut slow-cooked with great chunks of andouille—is now nothing but fatty meat, over-wrought beans, and soggy cabbage.

The sun beats down mercilessly from a cloudless sky. The breeze off the Tidal Basin gives up entirely. The number 55 sun block in Harry’s hip pocket starts oozing down his leg. And the men in red, surrounded now by a cordon of empty beer cans, are still miles east of the Mississippi.

‘Take Georgia,’ says one of them, pensively, sucking down the last of what has to be his third six-pack. ‘When you’re in Athens between the hedges …’

A Continuing Story of Great Food and Tempestuous Love

Episode 36: Oh, Promise Me!

Sam is right. There is on this wedding day unprecedented music in the spheres.

Blessed by chance and fine ingredients, swept up in the power of love and good cooking, bound together by the certain glory of a life to come, Harry and Sam pledge each to the other the tag ends of their earthly days.

Harry's mother sighs; Sam's sisters cheer; their friends weep for joy, struck by the light of love shining in their eyes.

'Oh, promise me,' their butcher's niece, a voice major from Julliard, sings.

And they do.

The End.

Previously on The Rocky Road of Love

For links to the back story of The Rocky Road of Love, see Previous Episodes at the top of the Home page or click on individual episodes in the Pages box below.